


The clock is ticking

by zarasu



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Alternate Ending, Claire gets into the fortress a little earlier, Gen, Post-Unwound Future, Unwound Future Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28297818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarasu/pseuds/zarasu
Summary: An alternate ending of 'Unwound Future' where Claire breaks into Clive's fortress a little earlier and saves half of London and Clive's future in one fell swoop.
Relationships: Clive & Hershel Layton, Hershel Layton & Luke Triton
Kudos: 11





	The clock is ticking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panadopolis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panadopolis/gifts).



> This is the gift for Panadopolis as part of the Professor Layton Secret Santa exchange from the London Discord Server.  
> Merry Christmas, Pana!
> 
> (A lot of dialogue in this fic is taken directly from 'Professor Layton and the Unwound Future'.)

As soon as they entered the room, the door slid shut behind them. They turned to see Clive standing in front of the control center, a wall of monitors behind him.

“So nice of you to join me, Professor.”

Layton came to a halt a few meters in front of Clive, Luke, and Flora closely behind him, and regarded the boy standing before him. Clive had shed the more friendly demeanor he had adopted as part of his charade. The young man that now stood before him exuded an air of smugness and superiority that made Layton doubt his ability to change Clive’s mind.

Nonetheless, he still had a bit of hope left.

“Whatever it is you have planned, you can’t go through with it,” he began. “We know what Bill and Dimitri did. When the world learns of it, they’ll be punished. You said you wanted justice and isn’t that justice enough?”

“That’s a nice sentiment,” Clive responded. “But without large-scale havoc, those fools in government will never change their ways!”

“Listen to yourself, Clive! You--”

“Who are you to argue with me? As a reporter, I’ve witnessed countless tragedies firsthand. And it’s clear that my life isn’t the only one that’s been destroyed in the name of progress! To those in power, the rest of us ‘little people’ are all just bumps on the road to a brighter tomorrow. The only thing a bully understands is force.

So, you see, I have no choice but to level this place and rebuild it from the ground up.”

“What you’re saying is unthinkable!” Layton felt his control over the situation slip through his fingers. While Clive had been visibly angry at the beginning, at the end of his speech he was composed and seemingly convinced of his argument. 

“This conversation is over,” Clive retorted and turned away to press one of the buttons behind him.

“No, Clive!” Layton made to step forward but had to stagger back as the part of the ground he, Flora, and Luke stood on began to rise. 

“Tell me, Professor,” Clive called from below them. “How do you intend to get out of this one?”

For the first time, Layton noticed that the piece of ground they stood on was divided into tiles that had symbols on them. Just as soon as he thought that, the first tile began to break away. Luke yelped and Flora stumbled back to avoid falling through the gap in the floor.

One by one, the tiles began to fall away, leaving the platform smaller and smaller. Trying to concentrate, Layton tried to predict the pattern in which the tiles fell before there were none left to stand upon. The symbols on the tiles, there was an order there…

But, just as half of the tiles were gone, the movement stopped. Not only they, but everything around them seemed to slow down and come to a standstill. The group looked around wonderingly, not sure what had caused the sudden reprieve.

“What? What is happening?” Clive run to the control center and frantically checked the monitors. All of them began to flicker and run through images and readings faster than any of them could process. 

Layton used the confusion to draw Luke and Flora’s attention to him and then quickly and quietly crouched down and shuffled his feet off the platform until he hung from it only by his arms. He then let himself drop until he was on the ground once more. Standing upright he held his arms up and caught first Luke and then Flora. After they were all safely on the ground once more, they turned to Clive who was operating the controls, trying to stop the machinery from coming apart.

All around them, huge metal plates and cables began to come loose and started to unwind and drop. Something near the control panels exploded and took several of the wall high windows with it, causing them all to sway on the spot. However it had happened, the gigantic fortress had started to self-destruct.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Layton called. 

Just as they had turned to the entrance, the door opened to reveal Celeste, her shoulder supporting a half-conscious Bill Hawks.

“We need to get out of the fortress!” she called, stumbling under the weight of the man.

“You! This is not possible! You shouldn’t have been able to get him out of the generator!” Clive stood, pointing at Celeste and panting, coming apart at the seams now that his plan was falling apart. “The fortress is programmed to detonate if someone takes Hawks out of the generator and level most of London in the process. You have doomed all of us to die here!”

“No,” Celeste shook her head. “The detonator is wired to sense the Minister’s heartbeat, isn’t it? I’ve managed to hook up a pocket watch to the wires, but the watch only runs for ten minutes. We’ve got to get out of here immediately!”

“No!” Clive staggered back. “That can’t be happening, it can’t! I was so close!”

As he talked, one of the gigantic cables behind him loosened and began to teeter threateningly. Layton had just enough time to call out and take a step in his direction before the cable swung through the room and impacted Clive’s side, causing him to careen across the ground and through the window. He barely managed to hold on by his fingertips to stop himself from getting thrown off the fortress altogether. 

“Clive!” Several of the people in the room cried out and Layton threw himself forward, reaching through the broken window pane, managing to get a hold of Clive’s hands.

Lying on the ground, holding onto Clive's hands, he looked down and into his eyes. They were wide and scared and the boy’s face was bloodless. Then the fear in his eyes turned to resignation.

Celeste dropped to the ground beside Layton and grabbed ahold of Clive’s arms too.

“What are you doing?” came from Hawks’ kneeling form. “That man is a criminal! He kidnapped me and wants to level London to the ground!”

Hearing Hawks words, Clive’s face contorted in fury. “Let me go!” he cried. “I’d rather fall to my death than owe that bastard my life!”

“Don’t be foolish,” Layton said forcefully. “Your life is worth more than this!”

To his shock, tears began to spill over Clive’s pale face, although he wasn’t sure if they were tears of anger or desperation. Next to him, Celeste squared her shoulders and huffed. “Help me pull him up,” she said and Layton nodded.

Together they first pulled the now unresisting boy onto the floor and then up to his feet, before turning to face the others. Luke was standing nearest and was eyeing Clive with indecision, while Flora was standing further away, retaining a safe distance. Hawks and Clive were looking at each other for a moment before Celeste pulled Clive forward and everyone started to move to the exit, choosing to postpone the confrontation until they were safe once more.

They poured into the hallway, Layton going ahead and leading them towards a small door off to the side. “My car is parked outside,” he said, ignoring Hawks’ muttered “His car? This is madness,” behind him. 

Hurrying through the door, they found themselves outside on a deck jutting out from the fortress, and, a few feet away, was Layton’s small, red car. 

While Celeste was dropping herself into the passenger seat, Layton pulled open the back door, ushering in Luke and Flora, the Minister, and then coming face to face with Clive.

The boy hesitated at the car door and turned towards Layton, but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “You are sure you want to take me with you? Other people would say that I deserve to die here, ended by my own contraption.” Here he cast a glance to the interior of the car.

“Listen to me, Clive,” Layton said and clasped a hand to his shoulder. “You made a grave mistake, but I think that this doesn’t need to be the end for you. You don’t need to let your grief and anger consume your whole life. Bill Hawks will face justice for what he did, I can promise you that. But now you need to find something else to live for. You are still young, you still have time to do good in the world. Don’t let this destruction and hate define you.” 

Next to them, the metal plates of the fortress began to produce ominous noises, drawing their eyes to them for a moment. Then Clive nodded and got into the car and they began their drive off the fortress. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Answer me one question, Clive. You knew full well I’d stand in the way of your plot. So why did you send for me?”

“Dimitri was sure he needed you for his project, but I knew full well of the threat you posed to my plan. Though, I suppose I still led you all the way to the heart of my base, didn’t I? At first, I was just toying with you. But at some point, I realized I was enjoying our time together. Maybe part of me wanted somebody to save me from my all-consuming madness.

As you did all those years ago…

Don’t worry about me. I intend to atone for my crimes.

I look forward to the day we meet again. Until then, I hope life treats you well, Professor.”

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


“Did you read this, Professor? ‘Prime Minister resigns due to his involvement in explosion ten years ago’.” Luke was leaning forward in his armchair, holding the newspaper up to Layton who was sitting on the couch, sipping a cup of tea. The afternoon sun was shining through the windows of Professor Layton’s office, bathing everything in a golden glow.

“Yes, Luke,” the professor hummed. “It caused quite the scandal when the case was reopened a few weeks ago and the Minister’s involvement was discovered. There was much backlash in the media about it and seeing how Hawks will be tried again in the coming weeks, I suppose he preferred to resign before the public outcry got much worse.”

“Hm.” Luke put the paper on the table and took his own cup of tea. “I wonder what will happen to Clive now. Even though he had this evil plan, no one was actually hurt in the process, was there, Professor?”

“Well, Inspector Chelmey managed to evacuate all of the people in underground London, so no one there was actually hurt in the attack, no. However, Clive and Dimitri did kidnap several scientists and civilians and keep them from their lives and families and those people will demand reparations. There is also the fact that a lot of people could have been hurt and even died, had Clive succeeded with his plan.”

“Huh,” Luke responded, shoving his hands under his tighs. “You know, Professor, I still can’t believe we fell for his trick. I mean, a time travel machine, a future me, all that sounds rather fantastic in hindsight.”

“Ah, but Luke, my boy,” and here Layton smiled, although a little wistfully around the edges, “remember that Dimitri’s time travel machine did work, even if it was faulty. Who knows what future scientists will invent in the coming decades. Maybe, one day, people will be able to visit a London of the future, just as we believed we were doing at the time.”

Luke shivered. “Uh, actually, I think I would rather stay in the present, Professor. I don’t think time travel is for me.”

Layton laughed lightly. “That’s probably a wise decision…”

At that moment, someone knocked at the door to the office.

“Enter,” Layton called.

The door opened and a small man entered the room.

“Ah, Dean Delmona!” Layton greeted the man, smiling. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hello, hello, my dear Hershel,” the Dean answered, shuffling to the couch and rummaging around in his coat pocket. “You see, I was just returning from my lunch break when I encountered a young postman in the entrance hall. Apparently, he was searching for you!”

“Oh?” Layton asked puzzled. 

The Dean procured a letter out of his pocket with a flourish. “Yes, yes, it seems that you have got a very odd acquaintance. See here, that part of the address is complete clutter! Who would have thought that you would find a penpal who is just as obsessed with puzzles as you are, heh? Well, I told the poor man I would bring you the letter, that your office is on my way anyway. And here you are!”

Layton took the letter out of the Dean’s hand, ignoring Luke who was almost falling off his chair with curiosity and took a look at the address. 

Then he smiled. He recognized that handwriting. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
